Ten-year follow-up of bilateral gingival recession treatment: A case report

This work aims to present a 10-year follow-up of a young patient who underwent treatment with collagen matrix (CM) combined with enamel matrix derivative (EMD) for bilateral gingival recessions in the maxillary canine region.

The patient, a 25-year-old woman, presented with bilateral Cairo type 1 recessions. A porcine-derived CM in combination with EMD was applied to the affected area after coronally positioned flaps. Over the subsequent decade, the patient was monitored for key follow-up parameters, that is, wound closure, root coverage, functional and aesthetic outcomes, and adverse events.

Clinical evaluations at regular intervals demonstrated complete and sustained root coverage, stable tissue volume, excellent functional and aesthetic recovery, and absence of any complications.

This long-term follow-up suggests that the use of CM in combination with EMD may provide a durable and effective solution for soft tissue defects, with sustained positive results observed over a 10-year period. These findings reinforce the long-term efficacy and safety of the combined use of CM and EMD for the treatment of gingival recessions.

Successful use of biomaterials (collagen matrix and enamel matrix-derived proteins) in covering exposed roots. Rare postoperative follow-up of a decade of combined use of biomaterials in soft tissue reconstruction.

This case demonstrates a decade-long follow-up of the combined use of a collagen matrix and enamel matrix-derived proteins in coronally advanced flaps for soft tissue reconstruction to cover exposed roots. This follow-up will help clinicians choose biomaterials to replace autogenous connective tissue grafts, thereby reducing surgical time, pain, and postoperative discomfort for the patient, while avoiding adverse events such as excessive bleeding, analgesic consumption, and the risk of tissue necrosis in donor sites.